Afghanistan: who bears the costs?

17 Aug

I have at times spoken, here for instance, of America’s military-industrial complex as – inter alia – a way of transferring wealth within the USA from the many to the few. In the context of US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Caitlin … Read More »

Two new reads on Afghanistan

15 Aug

If western mass media were anything remotely resembling what they purport to be, they would be making sure the public understands how badly their government just fucked them. Instead it’s “Oh no, those poor Afghan women.”  Caitlin Johnstone It works … Read More »

76 years ago today

9 Aug

Nagasaki bound: bomb No. 2, “Fat Man” Seventy-six years and three days ago Hiroshima was incinerated. Three days later, on August 9, it was Nagasaki’s turn. Estimates of the immediate consequences – not attempting to reckon those in the months, … Read More »

75 years ago today

6 Aug

In a closely argued piece for CounterPunch on the seventy-fifth anniversary of Hiroshima, Belgian born historian Jacques Pauwels, now a Canadian citizen, explores why it happened. Mythmaking and the Atomic Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Myth: The war in the … Read More »

It’s raining snakes!

6 Aug

The Economist today: “It’s been raining snakes amid the recent heavy downpour,” reported the Mumbai edition of the Times of India on July 26th, in a news piece about a rock python which “refused to be evicted” from an autorickshaw. The same paper … Read More »

Speaking of roads …

13 Jul

As argued in a recent post, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and associated projects like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which now gives the global south an alternative to the punitive terms of IMF/World Bank loans, have lifted hundreds of … Read More »